FAHLAVÈYAÚT(sing.: fahlav^ya, Arabicized form of Persian pahlav^, in its original sense of Parthian), an appellation given especially to the quatrains and by extension to the poetry in general composed in the old dialects of the Pahla/Fahla regions. According to Ebn al-Moqaffa¿ (in Fehrest, ed. Tajaddod, p. 15, tr. Dodge, I, p. 24), Fahla consisted of five regions, namely Isfahan, Ray, Hamada@n, Ma@h Neha@vand, and Azerbaijan, that is a region comprising Media (cf. K¨úa@razm^, p. 117, where the word is recorded as bahla). Ebn K¨orda@dòbeh (p. 57) describes it as a region consisting of Ray, Isfahan, Hamada@n, D^navar, Neha@vand, Mehraja@n-qadòaq, Ma@sabadòa@n, and Qazv^n. The use of fahla (< Mid. Pers. pahlaw) for designating Media goes back to late Arsacid times (cf. Henning, "Mitteliranisch," p. 95). The specimens of fahlav^ poems quoted in Persian texts are mostly attributed to the above-mentioned regions. Nevertheless, from the linguistic point of view the Fahla area may have extended to G^la@n. Thus fahlav^ya@t include poems composed in the former dialects of western, central, and northern Persia. There is evidence to suggest that certain popular lyrical quatrains were sung by the Persian Sufis of Baghdad in the 3rd/9th century in the course of their religious musical performances (sama@¿). These quatrains could hardly have been in Arabic, but were in all probability in the local Iranian dialects (ˆaf^¿^ Kadkan^, pp. 2335-39). The oldest extant fahlav^ quatrain, apparently in the dialect of Neha@vand, is attributed to a certain Abu@ ¿Abba@s Neha@vand^ (d. 331/942-43; Fasá^há, II, p. 54, without the appellation fahlav^; see R^a@há^, pp. 1928 f.). The same quatrain is also recorded by Soru@r^ with some minor variant readings (I, p. 300, where the poem is said to have been sung in the mode (tÂar^q) of œarva, see below). Although this quatrain was composed in the 10th century, it has been Persianized to such an extent that in its present form it hardly possesses the archaic characteristics of a 10th-century fahlav^ poem. The fahlav^ya@t were set to melodies (lahán, malháu@na@t) called o@ra@mana@n and were sung (ˆams-al-D^n Ra@z^, Mo¿jam, p. 166; Borha@n-e qa@tÂe¿, ed. Mo¿^n, s.v. o@ra@man). This term seems to be connected with the name of the region Avroman (q.v.) in Kurdistan. A variant of it, o@ra@ma, is sometimes used to designate a fahlav^ poem (¿Ayn-al-Qozμa@t, II, pp. 82, n. 7, 168, 176, 374, 411, 444). Another mode used for singing fahlav^ poetry was called œarva, whose origin in not known (Soru@r^, I, pp. 76, 300: be tÂar^q-e œarva "in the mode of œarva," III, pp. 1104, 1494-95: dar œarva "in (the mode of) œarva"; see K^a@, 1978, pp. 34-37; cf. œarvakòúa@n "one who sings in the œarva mode" juxtaposed with pahlav^gu@ in a Persian verse (Log@at-na@ma, s.v.). Another similar term, also of unknown origin, is recorded in Persian dictionaries as ba@ha@r, defined as "a mode of singing similar to (the singing of) pahlav^ and ra@mand^" (K^a@, 1978, pp. 33, 34, see below). The singing of fahlav^ya@t could also be accompanied by instrumental music (Nezáa@m^, Haft peykar, p. 127, v. 7; idem, K¨osrow o ˆ^r^n, p. 98, v. 7). Besides fahlav^ some other terms were occasionally used to designate dialect poetry. For example, ra@‘^/ra@z^, which was originally used for the poems composed in the dialect of Ray, was later so generalized. Thus it was used for the dialect poems of Azerbaijan, and also applied to the fahlav^ poems of a Shirazi poet. Other terms are œahr^, lit. "relating to the city" (Ad^b T®u@s^, 1956, pp. 240-42; Rezμa@za@da, II, pp. 61-66; R^a@há^, pp. 1321-25, cf. Pers. pahlav "city" in contrast to daœt o ha@mu@n "plain, desert"), and ra@mand^ "relating to Ra@mand, a region of Qazv^n," but used to designate a mode of singing dialect poetry; cf. also ra@‘^da@n "one who knows dialect poetry" and œahr^kòúa@n "one who sings dialect poetry"). The fahlav^ya@t as a means of entertainment of the general populace and as sources of spiritual satisfaction for the elites and intellectuals enjoyed great favor and prestige. In ˆams-al-D^n Ra@z^'s words (Mo¿jam, p. 166), "they were embellished with uncommon ideas (ma¿a@n^-e g@ar^b) and adjusted (p^ra@sta) to subtle (moraqq) and delightful melodies." The contents of the surviving specimens include lyrical and mystical themes as well as colorful and elegant descriptions of nature and satires. It was because of these qualities that they were often quoted by the Persian mystics. Expressions such as lahán-e fahlav^, golba@ng-e fahlav^, g@azal-e pahlav^, bayt-e pahlav^, and soru@d-e fahlav^ signify not only beautiful and elegant but also spiritual and intellectual poetry. Thus Ja@m^ called Ru@m^'s Mat¯naw^ "the Koran in the pahlav^ language" (Rezμa@za@da, p. 60). The fahlav^ya@t have the characteristics of oral literature: the simplicity and vividness of their contents, the anonymity of their poets, and the repetitions and recurrences of more or less the same themes in them. For most of the fahlav^ya@t the name of the poet is not mentioned, and of those which are attributed to a poet, the attribution must be regarded with caution. In some cases they are attributed to people in general or even to a legendary figure, such as a quatrain ascribed to Adam. The fahlav^ poets continued the oral tradition of the Parthian and later minstrels following, in early Islamic times, the principles of Middle Iranian prosody. But with the adoption of the so-called Arabic prosody for Persian poetry, and under the influence of the latter, the fahlav^ya@t were gradually adapted to the rules of the quantitative meters, among which the most popular was hazaj (see ¿ARUÚZ˜), although sometimes with modifications that seemed shocking to strict prosodists such as ˆams-al- D^n Ra@z^ (Mo¿jam, pp. 166-67). Such deviations from the standard rules of Persian prosody were felt because the fahlav^ya@t still partly continued pre-Islamic prosody. These modifications were hardly noticed when the poems were sung, whereas when reading them the prosodist immediately noticed their metrical defects according to ¿aru@zμ (Arabic-based prosody). Although there are linguistic differences between the fahlav^ya@t of different regions, their common morphological and lexical features resulted in their expansion in a vast area extending from west to center and north Persia, they being recited and sung everywhere regardless of their provenance. Thus one quatrain is quoted as being both by a native of Ray and a native of Azerbaijan, a g@azal of Homa@m Tabr^z^ is cited in the D^va@n of ¿Obayd Za@ka@n^, S®a@÷en-al-D^n Torka of Isfahan quoted a bayt by Ba@ba@ T®a@her of Hamada@n, and even the Shirazi poet Bosháa@q At¿ema (q.v.) has fahlav^ya@t. The fahlav^ya@t, being survivals of the Median dialects, have certain linguistic affinities with Parthian, although in their existing forms they have been much influenced by Persian. It is impossible to discuss here all the common linguistic features of the fahlav^ya@t and the points in which they differ. The most noticeable linguistic characteristics may, however, be mentioned: they are, the use of the ergative construction for the past transitive verbs, the existence of two forms for the first person singular pronoun, namely az "I" (direct form, cf. Parth. az) and ma/mo "me" (oblique form, cf. Parth./Mid. Pers. man), the use of jï-/cä- before the inverted determinant in the ezμa@fa (q.v.) construction, the existence of the possessive adjectives jäman/cäman "my," jäta/cäta/aœta "your," jäma@n/cäma@n "our," the preverb ha@ (< fra- ), and the development of far- and xar- to har- (e.g., harsu@dan "wear out," har^dan "buy"). The following is a selective list of words deserving mention: ahna@m "love," aj/a‘/ja "from, of," a@la@va "flame," asr "tear," ava@/va@ "with," az "I," bar "door" (Parth. bar), baœn "stature," b^œ "pain, sorrow" (cf. Mid. Pers. be@œ), d^l/del "heart," d^m "face" (Mid. Pers./Parth. de@m), ge@ha@n "world," gya@n/ga@n/ya@n "soul," han^ "other" (Mid. Pers./Parth. any), herz- "leave, let" (Parth. hirz-), kar- "do" (Parth. kar-), k^j/k^‘ "anybody, somebody" (Parth. ke@‘), kova@m "which" (interrog. adj. Parth./Mid. Pers. kada@m), la@v "agitation," ma@ng "moon," na@d/na@dò "beloved," o@ "to, at, in" (Parth./Mid. Pers.), r^j- "pour," ru@j/ru@‘/ru "day" (Parth. ro@z), sa@(y) "shadow," tahra "dark" (cf. Av. ta…pμra-), vad/vadò/vay "bad," va@tan, va@‘- "say, tell" (Parth. wa@xtan, wa@‘-), vaz- "move" (Parth. waz-), va@‘a@r "market" (Parth. wa@‘a@r), vel "rose, beloved," v^n- "see," (Mid. Pers./Parth. we@n-), xa@ "earth, soil, dust," xúa@ "god," xúa@v "sleep," xúa@z- "want, wish" (Parth. wxa@z-), ya@ "place" (Parth. wya@g), ya@n "soul" (cf. gya@n/ga@n), za@n- "know" (Parth.